Important spectator?

You give out one card to a single VIP spectator and then throw the rest of the deck in the bin, as it's now useless. I've never heard so much garbage in my life. So basically refills are not available and they completely misinterpreted the product description.

This is getting confusing. You shouldn't give out the cards as a souvenir, unless you are prepared to buy refills. Nimrod above mentioned you give out the card away in one of the methods. But after 26 cards you have to get a new supply, otherwise you tip the method. I wouldn't recommend it anyway. If you wish to leave them with a souvenir, take a photo for them on their phone while holding the card.

Agree. Totally confusing.

Hi!

A few days (weeks?) ago Asi posted in his FB that he was working on a new project, and I was curious to know what that may be... Well, I'm glad is this final project which I look forward to purchase in a near future soon. On the other hand you could say that is nothing but David Blaine's idea of revealing a Two of Hearts in the Queen of Spades, applied to all the deck... Anyways, I have to some ideas, thoughts and tips that may be useful/interesting to some.

1) First of all, I like overall tricks and effects where you can give some type of souvenir at the end. Having said that, I believe there is a right way to give souvenirs away and a wrong way to give souvenirs. I believe it was Tommy Wonder that wrote that a souvenir is a form of "taking away" home at least "some" of the incredible experience the spectator had. "Holding on" to the experience, so to speak. Following that thought path it would be logical to give away a souvenir only AFTER some type of magical experience has taken place. Considering that, I have seen this past year magicians who seem to be TOO EAGER to give away a magical souvenir, when really it was not yet the appropriate moment to do it. And in fact, if you were to read the body language and subconscious cues from the spectator, you will see that they really don't care much about taking home a signed that "came to the top of the deck". The SPECTATOR has to be more interested in obtaining a memento (thanks for that word) than what you are interested to give it away. That's -in my opinion - the proper way/situation to give away a souvenir. Let them beg for it.

2) In effects where a souvenir is given at the end (the ones I can think of right now) are effects where the souvenir in question is in some way part of the magic: a business card that printed itself, a card that restored, etc. Also "impossible objects" come into this category as well: linked cards, card transformed into a cube, etc. However in this particular effect (TGQ) what is the effect really? Is it that you had in your deck a specially printed card and the spectator found it with psychic intuition? Or is it that the card became printed somehow/someway? Or what is it? And in other words: why the spectator would care to take away home that card, other than the novelty of the thing?

3) It seems to me that the proper way to perform this in a way that a spectator would want to take home this card is to do it as "extra" item, once you have finished your hopefully impressive set of magic. And then, it seems like you remember one more thing and you do this... that, to me, would be amazing.

4) Besides doing a named card revelation, I thought a couple of other ideas: you show a queen with magical properties, that can make a selected card vanish from the deck. Then you show that the selected card got "absorbed" somehow into the queen. Another idea would be to present a type of "transposition" effect where you are tyring to make 2 cards change places, only that one card vanishes by mistake (Rub a Dup) and instead of changing places gets "into" the other card.

5) Finally, it seems that this effect has tremendous potential for presentations and story telling. Even the title suggests a lot. However from what I understand this subject is not explored in this release.

Finally (finally) I wanted to point out that I published a small, humble PDF book with 3 card effects, involving very basic handling but giving emphasis on the scripts and presentations. It was called "Subliminal 3". Paul Voodini and Paul Hallas liked it, despite the modesty of the contents.

Anyways, in that book was one routine that uses all the "special" cards found in a David Blaine's Lion Deck of Cards (you don't necessarily need that deck; you can substitute those cards in any deck, just that those cards look particularly good for the effect). Now one of those cards is the Queen of Spades / Two of Hearts card. People interested in meaningful presentations can take one or two lines from that effect and use it in Gypsy Queen, in a way that when you give away the card (if you actually do it) you can do it with a meaningful message that could make your spectator remember a valuable life lesson every time they see they card. That, I believe, is a MUCH more powerful way of giving a specially printed card as a souvenir.

Thanks for reading.

I look forward to buying "Gypsy Queen"

PS: I know from what other wrote that once you give away one card then you lose it and can't give away again. I don't see this as a particular problem. I just make them name other card or simply say something like "That's a very common card, please name another one" etc. Just my feeling.

Dear Niva:

I liked your idea very much, thanks!

I prefer to keep it simple in this effect and no card vanishes or such. I usually tend to group effects together rather than multiple 1 minute effects. But in some cases it's better to keep it simple. I think a big part of the beauty of this routine it's in fact how simple and direct it is. There's also the twist in the end.

This and Gregory Wilson's Cold Case... enough said!

Is there a demo of how the 1st method (the easiest handling one) looks?

So I took the plunge. My concern isn't as much about whether or not you give away a souvenir. You can absolutely do this trick and give.nothing away except a magical moment. Asi does mention to a spectator that they can have the card but I think that was just off the cuff and not endemic to the routine.

However I have written to Art of Magic about how it is advertised "at any level." This is not a beginner trick and even as an intermediate myself I'm concerned about the number of moves and the speed with which they need to happen. I don't think this gives anything away because it is an intricate routine: C*****c !@#$e. T** C****e, H*******r C**l, and spotting cards at a glance. And a tricky reset that Asi makes look easy. Also of the two versions of the trick one requires major prep to make it into a well known type of gimmicked deck. There's a lot of stuff in here. Great routine but by no means "at any level." My two cents .

Keep it simple! Without tipping the method, have the cards in order, AS to KS, AC to KC and so on...., that way As is on top ready for you know what. I won't put an indifferent card on the bottom either, I don't need it. A corner short would help reorganise the order later.

$#(#03#($D$$(!!!

Thanks Ivan. Will give that a try when the cards arrive.

Wow. The effect looks amazing, but that's quite a bit of handling you describe there, I'm stunned they would advertise that as amateur level and self-working. It seems like the reality is that, there's no physical memento (if not advertised, strongly implied), no refills (which were never advertised), not amateur level (as advertised), not self working (as advertised), and requires serious SOH. If all that is true, then it's just too many strikes for me, and I just saved $50.

Me too. Cannot stand blatant false advertising.

Some of the sleights mentioned above are not needed with some thought. Like I said in my last post. Keep it simple.

I have to defend them on the advertising on this one. There is another really easy version of this that is not mentioned in the video instructions which uses a force and in that case you would be able to hand the queen out as a souvenir. You can do it 52 times of course, before you have to buy refills.

It is Amateur Level as described on the site and it CAN be Self Working, with just two forces.

I will not buy this unless they make it in Phoenix brand decks.

The only thing that stops me buying this is that the deck is not made with magicians usual branded decks.
It is not a Phoenix deck or Bicycle deck.
I do not want to be bringing out one deck of cards for one trick.
I don't mind switching decks but I can't do this if all my other decks are Phoenix decks or Bicycle.
My personal preference is Phoenix decks as they are better quality.

I wonder why they showed the edited, heavy sleight version, as opposed to the easy version? That's why it shouldn't be defended.

Because that's his favourite. It's mine too. And I guess it's the one that most people will prefer.

I just thought of another version that's really easy to do and even easier than the first method shown on the video. For those who got it, reverse the order of every two cards. Spread the cards and have them choose one. Cut at the point where they take the card. Ask them to take a peek at their card while you look the other way and place the appropriate Queen in a pocket for a prediction reveal.

This is not a difficult routine. Interpretation is the key here. I don't see a problem with the ad. It seems most of the time, magicians just want the easiest way out to a really good effect and if there is a little work involved, become very critical. This isn't just a good trick, its a great trick. Spend time practicing and less complaining. Somehow over the years we have conditioned ourselves to buy, open box, perform. If you're a polished magician, this is easier, but should not be the norm. The really good stuff usually costs a little more and practice time. As far as the cards themselves, phoenix or bicycle would have worked out better but certainly is not a deal killer.

Best

Steve

This is a very subjective statement, Steve. Different performers have different criteria for effects they choose to do or not do. For a number of us these back designs are just not practical.